FORD FIELD
WEEK 4: SUNDAY, OCT. 4, 2020
The following are post-game notes and quotes from the Detroit Lions’ 35-29 loss to the New Orleans Saints at Ford Field on Sunday, Oct. 4, 2020.
POST-GAME NOTES
LIONS SCORING PLAYS
- First Quarter: RB D’Andre Swift caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from QB Matthew Stafford with 11:58 left in the quarter. K Matt Prater made the extra point to give Detroit a 7-0 lead.
- First Quarter: WR Kenny Golladay caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from QB Matthew Stafford to give Detroit a 14-0 lead with 10:23 remaining in the quarter. K Matt Prater converted the point-after attempt.
- Third Quarter: TE T.J. Hockenson caught a one-yard touchdown pass from QB Matthew Stafford to cut the score to 35-21 with 4:19 left in the quarter. K Matt Prater made the extra point.
- Fourth Quarter: RB Adrian Peterson rushed for a five-yard touchdown with 3:40 left in the game. TE T.J. Hockenson caught the two-point conversion from QB Matthew Stafford to cut the score to 35-29.
TEAM NOTES
The Lions… - Had their third-straight game with an opening-drive score.
- Scored touchdowns on their first two drives of the game. The last time the Saints allowed touchdowns on the opponent’s first two drives of the game was on Dec. 30, 2018 at Carolina.
- Intercepted Saints QB Drew Brees on the Saints’ first play from scrimmage, marking Brees’ first pick on the first play from scrimmage in a game since doing so at the St. Louis Rams on Dec. 15, 2013.
- Recorded an interception on the defense’s first play from scrimmage for the first time since doing so vs. the New York Jets in Week 1 of 2018.
- Had their fourth player new to the roster in 2020 (CB Darryl Roberts) record an interception in the last two weeks, joining LB Jamie Collins Sr., S Duron Harmon and CB Jeff Okudah.
- Had a running back, wide receiver and tight end (RB D’Andre Swift, WR Kenny Golladay, TE T.J. Hockenson) each record a receiving touchdown for the first time since doing so vs. Cleveland on Nov. 12, 2017 (RB Theo Riddick, WR Golden Tate, TE Eric Ebron).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES
LB JAMIE COLLINS SR. - Tallied a game-high nine tackles (seven solo) while appearing in his 100th-career game. P JACK FOX
- Punted four times for 218 yards (54.5 gross, 46.3 net), launching a long of 57 yards and pinning one inside of the 20- yardline.
WR KENNY GOLLADAY - Recorded four receptions for 62 yards (15.5 avg.) and one touchdown.
- Produced his 21st career receiving touchdown in his 44th career game, passing WR Calvin Johnson (20) for the second-most receiving touchdowns through 44 games in franchise history. His 2,849 receiving yards through 44 games also rank as the second-most in Lions history.
- Recorded at least 30 receiving yards for the 12th-straight game.
WR MARVIN JONES JR. - Recorded one reception for nine yards on the day.
- Appeared in his 100th career game and recorded a reception for the 85th-straight game.
- LS DON MUHLBACH
- Appeared in his 248th-career game, moving into a tie with K Al Del Greco for 50th on the NFL’s all-time list for career games played. Among players who primarily played long snapper, Muhlbach has played in the third-most games at the position.
DE ROMEO OKWARA - Finished with three solo tackles, three quarterback hits, one tackle for loss and 1.0 sack.
- Recorded a sack for the second-straight game, the 11th with Detroit and 12th of his career. His 11.0 sacks with Detroit are the second-most in franchise history by a player who entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent. His 12.0 career sacks are the fourth-most by a Nigerian-born player.
RB ADRIAN PETERSON - Registered 11 rushes for 36 yards (3.3 avg.) and one touchdown.
- Recorded his first rushing touchdown of the season, the 112th of his career and his 81st game with at least one rushing touchdown. Peterson’s 81 games with a rushing touchdown ties him with Hall of Fame RB Walter Payton for the fourth-most games in NFL history.
CB DARRYL ROBERTS - Recorded his first interception with the Lions and the fourth of his career on New Orleans’ first play from scrimmage.
QB MATTHEW STAFFORD - Finished 17-of-31 passing (54.8%) for 206 yards, three touchdowns and one interception for a 94.3 passer rating. Added three carries for 21 yards (7.0 avg.).
- Passed QB Dave Krieg (261) for 18th on the NFL’s all-time list for passing touchdowns. Stafford now has 264 passing touchdowns for his career.
- Produced his 83rd-career multi-touchdown game.
- Produced the 38th game with three-or-more touchdowns in his career, tying Hall of Fame QB Len Dawson for the 15th-most in NFL history.
RB D’ANDRE SWIFT - Recorded four rushes for 22 yards (5.5 avg.) and caught four passes for 30 yards (7.5 avg.) and one touchdown to finish with 52 yards from scrimmage.
- Became the second running back in franchise history to produce at least 10 receptions, 100 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown within his first four NFL games.
- Became the fourth player in Lions history to record at least one rushing and receiving touchdown within his first four NFL games.
LIONS HEAD COACH MATT PATRICIA POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)
Opening Statement: “It was obviously not the outcome we wanted. [We] obviously didn’t play well enough all the way across the board. [We] started fast, didn’t really do much there in the middle, and then tried to come back at the end, which was too late at that point. So, [we’ve] got a lot of work to do in front of us. I don’t think our fundamentals were very
good today. That needs to improve. We’ve got to coach better and make sure that we are doing things to help our team win, both playing and coaching. Execution wasn’t good enough. Just give the Saints credit, they came out ready to go, stayed consistent, they didn’t panic when they got down early, and just were able to operate efficiently all the way across
the board. So we’ve got a lot of work to do in front of us.”
On inability to stop the Saints offense on five consecutive long drives: “I mean I think they did a great job on those drives. It’s things certainly, exactly what we talk about all the time. Just the game was up and down, I didn’t really feel like there was control in the game at all from that standpoint. And those long drives, we may have gotten them off track and then they would get a play to get back on track, and a little bit of back and forth there. It’s never a surprise when you play Sean Payton and Drew Brees from that standpoint. I think Drew Brees does an unbelievable job of, you know he’s so efficient with the ball and he’s obviously very accurate. And very calm and poised, so it doesn’t surprise me at all. I mean I think [it was] different than maybe one of the games we had earlier in the year. I thought that the guys fought all the way
through the game, and tried to settle down at the end, which I think they did. But it was just too late at that point. It was too many drives in between.”
On why people should believe in him as a coach despite losing the last 14 of 16 games: “I mean that’s a hard question. Obviously, we just lost to the Saints. Let’s just give them credit for this game. They played extremely well and I know we’ve got a lot of work to do. Certainly I think when I came to Detroit there was a lot of work to do, and that’s what we’re trying to do. But talking about this year right now, we’re talking about right now in these first four games and obviously today wasn’t good enough. I think after four games our team can really take a lot at itself and say ‘OK, hey how do we need to play the games? What have we got to do?’ We’ve got some work to do during the Bye week here, I think
which will be good for us to really take a look at how we need to play going forward. And I think that’s probably the most important thing from that standpoint is what do we do going forward and how do we win?”
On changing the pattern of the Lions losing double digit leads: “Yeah, I don’t really think it’s the same thing over though. I mean, if you want to break it down, Chicago obviously was the end of the game, where we didn’t do a good enough job. I think Green Bay, obviously, was the halftime swing and we never really recovered. And this game I thought
that we obviously jumped out early, but it was so early in the game in the first quarter. I think after that, we didn’t play very well in the middle of the game, and I thought that we came back at the end of the game, and battled to try to give ourselves a chance to win and obviously we didn’t come through. So, I think from that standpoint, those are different. Last
week’s game is different. The biggest thing for us, really, what we’ve got to do, is obviously consistency. That’s what we’ve got to do is we’ve got to be consistent.” On if he has concerns about his job security heading into the Bye week: “Yeah, again, let’s just talk about the Saints game. I’m trying to get us to play better than what we did today. I come to work every day trying to do the best I can to help this team win. We’ve got great guys in that locker room and we’ve got to find a way to win.”
On if there was any concern today’s game would be cancelled amidst the COVID testing conversations last night: “No, we just got up ready to go. The League obviously has policies and procedures in place to make sure
everybody is safe and we just go play.”
On his coach’s challenge in the second quarter and how losing that challenge impacted his decisions later in the game: “Yeah, I mean obviously the one view we saw, which was he kind of landed on top of the defender when the ball came out. So we thought we had a good chance at it and it just took a while, and then eventually we saw the other view.
We figured it was obviously a game where we were trying to get as many possessions as we could, knowing how good they are, and that one didn’t work out. Doesn’t matter really in the game no matter what when you challenge early, it definitely affects what you do later in the game when things come up that you want to try and challenge. That’s part of the
challenge process.”
On if he is frustrated with the team’s performance defensively given his background as a defensive coach: “I mean I think obviously, we all think that we can play better and coach better. So I mean from that standpoint, we know that we’ve got a lot of work to do. And that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to go back and we’ve got a long season in front of us, but we’ve got to get going. We’ve got to get some of this stuff fixed that looks good at some points and not good at other points. That has to be more consistent than what it is and a lot of that has to do with fundamentals. So that’s really what we’ve got right now.”
On in-game offensive adjustments not working through four weeks: “Again, I think we’ve been able to start pretty fast here which has been great. And I think we will come back (and) what we will try to do is sustain that. Certainly, in a situation where we get up large numbers here early, for us we’ve got to stay on it. We’ve got to keep our foot on the gas all the way across the board, all three phases, all three.”
On the Saints running game performance today: “Definitely, I think their run game is something that they have been doing at a high level and certainly their defense has stopped the run at a high level. So we knew that was going to be a big challenge for us. I think from our aspect of it, we’ve got to just do a better job all the way across the board, coaches
and players and making sure that we get the run game stopped. There’s going to be runs in the game, they’ve got two really great backs and they’ve got an offensive line that runs the ball well. And when those things happen in the game, we’ve got to answer it.”
On the decision to go in the fourth quarter while down eight: “The situation is you look at those from if you decide you’re going to go for two, and you can do that, or decide that before the first touchdown, then you can go for it and give yourself two chances to get it in for the two-point conversion.”
On the defensive juggling of personnel: “Yeah, we definitely have some players out there that we want to get out in certain situations. We are trying to get them out there and obviously just looking for the consistency and that aspect of it and trying to get guys to settle in and play consistent So, from that aspect of it, we still have some inconsistencies.”
LIONS T TAYLOR DECKER POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)
On the frustration of not holding onto leads: “It’s very frustrating. We start fast, we show that we can get up on teams and score points on teams and stop teams. But at the end of the day, it’s a 60-minute game. So, I mean, yeah, it is frustrating. There’s no other way to say it.”
On his thoughts on how Head Coach Matt Patricia leads the team: “We all believe in the plan that’s put in place for us. We’re professional athletes. We’re expected to come here and perform and follow the lead of the things that the coaches have us do. So, we believe in what’s being taught here. If we didn’t, frankly, we wouldn’t be here.”
On why he has confidence in Head Coach Matt Patricia: “We’ve seen flashes of how good we can be. You see flashes of it; you see spurts here and there of what we can do when we execute. We know we have all the pieces to execute what we need in this locker room and on this team. But at the end of the day, it’s a full group effort. Everybody has to do their
job. We’ve seen flashes of it. We just need to see it more consistently.”
LIONS QB MATTHEW STAFFORD POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)
On his outlook of the team coming off the loss today: “1-3. Not where we want to be after four games. Started the game well again and then just didn’t play well enough throughout the entirety of the game. Have to give credit to them, did a great job of controlling the game, running the ball. They did a nice job stopping the run against us. Just one too many
mistakes from us.”
On his confidence in Head Coach Matt Patricia’s ability to lead the team: “Plenty of confidence (inaudible). We have to go out there and make the plays, when we have opportunities to make them.”
On if anything was going on with him today when missing some deep passes: “Nope, just missed them. I want a couple of those back. Obviously, had some long PIs (pass interferences) that helped us out too. They were in some bad positions on defense and made some decisions to not let us catch it and get some big plays through penalties as well. Definitely a couple I want back.”
On if the offense feels pressure to score on each drive with how opposing offenses are scoring a lot: “No I don’t think it’s any different this year than any other year for us. As a mentality every time we touch it we want to go get points. Obviously didn’t do that enough today.”
On if there is a reason for the lack of big plays so far this season: “No. I think probably just going back and looking at it, I think defenses are doing a nice job of trying to play us top down, but at the same time there’s chances. I have to do a better job of getting those guys better balls and better opportunities.”
On his visible frustration on the sidelines today: “Every time we get it, I want to go score. We weren’t able to do that as many times as we needed to today. It’s an emotional game, a passionate game. I’m trying to make sure I’m out there doing my best every single time. And there’s times, probably if you see frustration, it’s probably for myself. Just wish I
could’ve been better today to help us win.”
On his interception today: “Yeah, I wish I just would have thrown it a couple of yards further. TJ (Hockenson) did a nice job of scrambling and I just underthrew it.”
On looking forward to the Bye week in Week 5: “I think we just have a lot of work to do. A lot of things to look at and see how we can be better as a team. I think for me personally, it’s going to start just looking in the mirror and how can I help us be more successful, how can I help us win more. I’ll take the week obviously very seriously and try and figure out
how I can help us win.”
On if he was concerned about the false positive test with the Saints this morning: “No I didn’t think so. I think we have to trust what the League is doing and they’re doing as good as a job as they possibly can. They say it’s safe to go out there any play, we’re going to go out there and do it.”
On if the Saints’ defense was throwing off his rhythm today: “No, I don’t think they were doing anything particular defensively than they normally would. Just missed some chances and wish I had them back, I guess.”
On if he feels the same level of preparedness this season compared to other seasons: “Yeah, for sure. I feel like myself. Obviously, we haven’t hit some of the bigger plays down the field that we did last year but by no means am I feeling any different than I was. I just have to go out there and hit them. We have to make them as a team and help us put
points on the board.”
LIONS LB REGGIE RAGLAND POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET (VIA ZOOM)
On the frustration of a lost lead reoccurring: “It’s frustrating because we have the pieces to be successful in this league, and we just have to go out there and finish. There’s no excuses. There’s nothing else to be said. We have to go out and play ball.”
On Saints RB Alvin Kamara and the difficulty of defending New Orleans’ offense: “Alvin is one of the best players in this league, and I’ve known Alvin since high school – that’s my little brother. I know he’s a problem. Then you have one of the best at throwing the ball. They’re not going to stop fighting. They have a great head coach. So, we have to get
pressure. We have to get pressure on them – sometimes we had pressure on them, but he got it out on time, just like at the end. Had we had a little strength – I came free – he got it out right before I got to him. Playmakers (are) going to make plays in situations when it’s needed, and that’s what they did every time they needed a play. They gave the ball to Alvin
and they put the ball in (Drew) Brees’ hands.”
On re-grouping during the Bye week: “I think it’s good because all the stuff we messed up on, we can go back, clean it up and really detail the fundamentals of the things. We can just go play ball, man. Good thing it’s still early in the season.
So, I know a lot of people are doubting us – man, forget that. It’s still early in the season. We still can make a push of this thing, but we have to make up our mind and go do it because rightfully, we should be 4-0 right now. But we didn’t finish.
So, all the great teams in this league finish in difficult situations. That’s what we have to do in situations. It’s the NFL, like I said, it’s a grown-man’s league. We have to finish in these tough situations. Like I said, we got the pieces, we got the coach, we just have to go play, man.”
